(CNS): Updated — UCCI student Lindsay Japal, 23, from George Town has been crowned Miss Cayman Islands 2011. Lindsay, who was sponsored by First Insurance Company, was crowned at the Lions Centre on Saturday night by Cristin Alexander, Miss Cayman 2010, after wowing the judges to get the title for Best Smile and the Best In Gown as well as the title. First runner up was Janelle Muttoo, also from George Town, followed by North Side’s Crystal Tomlinson, who came in third. Aside from winning an array of prizes, including a car and a scholarship, Japal will also represent the islands in the Miss World pageant later this year and Miss Universe next year.

The new Miss Cayman Islands has only six weeks to go before she will be in London for the 2011 Miss World Contest which takes place on 6 November, where Lindsay will be up against 109 girls from around the world, all vying to take the crown from the current Miss USA (Alexandria Mills).

Well, since some of you have a problem with who is 100% Caymanian and who should win, let us now look at the entertainers. That little girl that sang she really rocked the place. What a voice! And congrats to all the girls. They are all winners and WELL Done Miss Japal!

Please note to all who have commented questioning Lindsay Japal's nationality that she is of Caymanian heritiage through her grandparents (on her mother's side) and plus five previous generations who are from the Arch, Henderson, Ebanks' and Henning families to name a few and was born, raised and educated in the Cayman Islands school system.

Please only leave positive remarks on this blog which encourages all young people not only Lindsay to seek their dreams and reach for the stars.

My congratulations to all the contestants of the 2011 pageant as they did an awesome job.

Well Jadine you have done. What thousands of young Caymanians wish they had the courage to do,or afraid to try.You have met and conquered many challenges to achieved your goal. You have successfully completed your mission.You did not win, but you saw it through to the end and you never gave up. Therewere times that you wanted to give up i know, but after much banging of heads and throwing of cell phones against wall you experienced the glitz and glamour of what it is like to be on that stage and be a beauty queen. Your are my Miss Cayman 2011 and i love you very much.

Linsay congrats and go girl…enjoy the ride you did shine on saturday night literally lovely dress.

Lindsay is a beautiful, intelligent and poised young lady, who I believe deserved to win the title. Congrats to her!

As far as her nationality or ethic makeup goes, if the fact that both of her parents are not Caymanian was an issue, why was she allowed to compete? This nonsense seems to be an issue every year and its pure ignorance if you ask me. How is anyone 100% Caymanian when a significant number of your population has married an expat?

If you only want full Caymanians to win the title I hope everyone will be happy with the 2 or 3 viable contestants that enter next year!

Lindsay's Mom is a Caymanian and her Father is from Grenada. Lindsay was here in Cayman at George Town Hospital and was raised in Spots Newlands! She attended Savannah Primary, George Hicks Middle School and John Gray High School.

May I add that NONE of the contestants had both born Caymanian Parents also.

Lindsay Congradulations! I cannot think of anyone more humble and deserving than you. You did amazing and I proud of you! You did amazing threw out the whole night and NAILED your question! So much so you had the crowd chanting your name!

Congrats again I do not let any of this phase you in anyway, this is something that every Miss Cayman has had to go through.

Congrats to Lindsey, Janelle & Crystal – who won fair and square, though I still do feel that Jessica should have won something as well – she rocked!! It was a very tough competition this year with excellent examples of CAYMANIAN brains and beauty! : )

each of the girls did great! I did not attend the show because i rather watch men than women but to get up their in from of hundreds of people and to show case yourself that takes guts!! they should be proud of that!

The entire concept of "Caymanian" is an interesting one and unfortunately this is not the best forumbecause we should be wishing Lindsay congrats and best wishes in both upcoming pageants, namely Miss World and Miss Universe.

However we do need a discussion on the topic. There are soooo many definitions of Caymanian that it is actually quite shocking for such a small population. I always think this leads to that lack of true patriotism that's painfully obvious at sporting competitions, cultural events and political events, just in general the support always tends to be lukewarm at best and instead of supporting our athletes or musicians etc we tend to focus more on tearing down the competition who tends to be more united or worse winning.

For a such a small population I never understood the rabid fascination with the distinction of "paper" Caymanian. I find that to be such a despicable and divisive phrase. Yes and for all those that are obsessed and who would automatically dismiss what I have to say base on my "status" I am a born Caymanian. The Caymanians that I aware of :

Born here with several generations on both sides

Born here with no generations on either side (born here before the law was passed so they are full Caymanians and do not require status)

Born here with no generations on either side (born here after the law was passed so they are "paper" Caymanians)

Not born here with several generations on both sides however based on date of birth usually require status so hence they are officially "paper" caymanians

Then it gets complicated with one parent being Caymanian because the law changed so much depending on whether it was your father or mother but for the most part this set would also be considered "paper" Caymanians

I have friends in all the above categories so that's what I am accustomed to if I missed other categories please include it because it is quite interesting. However by far the majority of my friends are in the generational Caymanians who were born elsewhere category. So when people call the talk shows and write on the blogs about Caymanians and spew their hate exactly which category of "Caymanian" are they referring to????

It would be quite interesting if FACTS were actually available of the 55,000 how many "real" Caymanians would fit into the first category????

OK so let me get this straight….. So after all the terrible thing that have happened recently, a bunch of people get worked up over something that does good for the youth? Isn't it better to see young Caymanians making well of themselves than being put in jail or dead? All these ladies are fantastic and should all be greatly commended for their participation. I had a great time at the pageant last night and will be back to support in the coming years. Congrats Lindsay! 🙂

#1 Japal #2 Muttoo #3 Tomlinson. The new Cayman……… although Ezzard would hate to admit it. These are not traditional "born Caymanian" Caymanian names. But they are Caymanians and congratulations to them. Poor old Debbie Cridland many years ago got her car scratched up and was nastily cussed off by a group of rabid "real" Caymanians because she wasn't a real Caymanian. A Paper Caymanian of Jamaican extraction! One of the leaders of the group attacking Cridland was a Caymanian schoolteacher (no joking-she was proud of it at the time) now in a senior position. Ironically, although this teacher's mother was a born Caymanian, her father is Jamaican. Ah so it go.

I remember that too. It was a big fuss at the time. I think we have improved since then in our attitudes. Well done ladies! BTW, Tomlinson is a Caymanian name although this beautiful young lady's name comes from her American father.

Lindsay,(and all the rest of these young ladies) is beautiful and Cayman should be proud of them. It is not clear whether Debbie Cridland was physically born in Cayman and I personally do believe this should be the main qualification to contest for the title.

In case you dont know it both Japal and Tomlinson are CAYMANIAN – both of them have Caymanian mothers so who cares what their last name is. As a matter of fact who cares how they "became" Caymanian they are Caymanian and Congratulations to all

Muttoo is CAYMANIAN as well – just because her parents became Caymanian by grant of status – doesn't mean she is less Caymanian than Tomlinson or Japal, who have Caymanian mothers. Whether by status or by right – if we are Caymanian, we are Caymanian. Sigh. It is OK to be Caymanian and to be othe nationalities. Congrats to Miss Cayma and the runners-up!

Any yet many countries from around the world have similar pageants. Did the current Miss Cayman not just get back from the Miss Universe pageant featuring young women from around the world? You might need to find more "evidence" of Cayman's backwards society there, Patty.

Everywhere has its downside-perhaps you should leave the Cayman Islands-there must be some good about it that you even know how 'stuck' we are. And by the way, the Lions Centre was packed last night. People dressed up, young and old, giving a much needed break from the concerns of crime and hardship these days. I am sure that local businesses such as salons, clothing and shoe stores, cosmetics etc were very happy to receive a little boost from many people buying new items to wear to last night's function.

It was a great show and the committee is to be commended. Sorry these pageants aren't your cup of tea-but then again perhaps your cup of tea is what everyone else would not enjoy either.

Personally, I have been bypassing her until now and I am not sure why – I think her profile photo does not do her justice at all. Imagine that! Looks do seem to matter in a beauty contest after all … yet another example of why I am not sold on these competitions.

By the way, I am not saying that she doesn't have the looks – she most definitely does – it is just a bad intro photo. (Plus I get the impression that she may be a naturally shy individual. Not to worry my dear – to find a young, beautiful and intelligent woman today that is not tainted by the repelling quality of arrogance is a much appreciated rarity!)

As expected, another "beauty pageant" has brought out the ugly in our people.

Some of you truly ought to be ashamed of yourselves for the comments posted on the online voting webpage!

I am not a big fan of these things however, I try to respect the act of young people placing themselves in vulnerable positions with the aim of an ultimate achievement. We should not be making personal (anonymous) attacks against these young women.

Word of caution to the organizers – that particular voting portal is quite flawed.

I was able to vote multiple times for my favorite – and the website crashed my browser every time!

My top 3 to win are Alyssa, Janelle and Lindsay as they strike me as the most likely to engage in a stimulating conversation.

Good luck to all though – it looks like it will be a tough decision for the judges.

Why are you so envious? Are you ugly, or pretty? Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. They are all beautiful girls and I wish each and every one of them the best, although there will be only one Miss Cayman, they will all be winners.

Actually if you took the time to educate yourself on the pageant, you would know that it is not just beauty, and in prepartion for tonight's events they have actually been asked A LOT of questions concering our economy, our government and recent crime among other things.

Beauty is a big part of these competitions, but when competing on an internationally level and when helping out with the development of our community, beauty takes a backseat.

If they want to compete in this nonsense that's up to them, I have no objection. What I object to vehemently is the use of public funds on this. Anyone who honestly believes competing in these is some sort of advertisement for the Cayman Islands needs their head examining.

Get YOUR head examined! The first time I saw anything on TV about the Cayman Islands was seeing Miss Cayman in the Miss World competition in 1977! A great advertisement that, literally, millions of people see.